Kayo now has more than 600,000 paying customers, as audiences return to the streaming service following the global pause on live sport, according to reports in the Herald.
While many streaming services enjoyed an increase in subscriptions owing to the pandemic, COVID-19 decimated Kayo’s numbers, with paying subscribers falling by 136,000 in the month of April alone.
However, with the AFL and NRL having successfully returned in Australia, Kayo has now surpassed its pre-COVID subscriber numbers.
The current 600,000 is up from 408,000 paying subscribers as of March 31 (although this figure was likely already negatively impacted by COVID).
According to the Herald, Foxtel CEO Patrick Delaney told advertisers Kayo’s recent surge brings Foxtel’s total sports customers to beyond 2 million.
“We’ve gone from really big lows to great highs. As we sit here today we have more sports subscribers than we’ve had in 25 years,” Delany said.
“[Kayo] is now sitting at over 600,000 paying subscribers which makes it one hell of a sports platform especially when you add it with the Foxtel premium platform, we now have close to 2 million sports subscribers.”
Foxtel could also become the sole broadcaster of cricket in Australia, with Seven West Media currently exploring legal avenues to terminate its agreement with Cricket Australia.
Foxtel recently asked Cricket Australia for a discount on its multi-million-dollar agreement with the organisation.
